EUGENE TAN

On May 9, The New Paper published the article, "Best showing, but should Dr Chee be going?" by its reporter Foo Jie Ying. The report featured prominently academic Eugene Tan from the Singapore Management University (SMU) who was also a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP). In addition, a separate article titled "Law prof: Chee lacks staying power" appeared as a sidebar to the main story, also carrying the views of Prof Eugene Tan. Few people expect high-level journalism from a tabloid like The New Paper. But for an academic to make unsubstantiated and biased comments in the two articles is not an acceptable practice in the academic community.

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The MDA’s actions of shutting down The Real Singapore has been seen as hypocritical by many Singaporeans, who feel that there are also other websites, such as the above-mentioned ones, which have been conducting their misdeeds but have been allowed to continue to operate. This has given rise to the perception that the People’s Action Party (PAP)-run government is intentionally persecuting The Real Singapore because it is the top “alternative” news website and which has been on the forefront of exposing the misdeeds of the PAP, and that the PAP wants to shut down The Real Singapore to stop it from doing so.

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Political analyst Eugene Tan, a law lecturer at the Singapore Management University, said that if the views of these political exiles were to be easily and widely available, it could deal a “severe injustice” to those who suffered during the violent confrontation. Former Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong felt that it is natural for history to have different narratives and accounts, and what the MDA did “is to insist that the government’s official account is the one, single unequivocal truth”.

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On 15 Apr this year, the Special Select Committee invited the general public and functional groups to submit names of persons for its consideration for appointment as NMPs. Submissions closed on 20 May 2014 and a total of 36 applications were received. One of the 36 applicants was the incumbent Prof Eugene Tan. He actually wanted to serve for another term as NMP to help Singaporeans. He was the first MP who said that immigration is the ‘mother of all issues’ in Singapore. He also caught the Parliament on a few occasions trying to pass bills without the minimum quorum.

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NOMINATED MP Eugene Tan yesterday sparked a lively discussion among Rafflesians past and present by asserting that his alma mater was now less "representative" of Singapore. He was speaking in Parliament about Raffles Institution (RI), one of Singapore's top schools. Later, he told My Paper that his sense was that the school does not reflect the social and economic composition of Singapore.

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Political observers were surprised by the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) move to expose potential candidates early to the public eye, with the next General Election expected to be some time away. This is a significant change in tactics, they said, adding that it was in response to one of the lessons the ruling party drew from the 2011 GE — that voters need time to familiarise themselves with new candidates. Said Singapore Management University’s Associate Professor Eugene Tan, who is also a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP): “The fact that they are not keeping it under wraps does suggest that, certainly, one aim (of the PAP leadership) is to create awareness that they are exposing potential candidates to the voters at this early stage.”

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The Government has wisely ring-fenced the hefty S$8 billion cost by budgeting for it in its entirety in Budget 2014. This means that the PGP will not appear as a line item in future Budgets, and future governments and generations will not have to bear the responsibility of financing it. Whatever changes come in the next two to three decades, there is money in the kitty to ensure the endeavour to care for our pioneers is not merely a politically expedient one.

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In the aftermath of the Little India riot, the focus and dominant narrative, unsurprisingly, have been on law and order issues.

The Government’s narrative is that the riot was a “one-off” spontaneous mayhem; the proximate cause being the inebriated state of some foreign workers reacting angrily and violently to a fatal accident involving one of their own.

Yet, the law and order narrative does not sit well with the long-standing issues in Little India, such as the easy availability of alcohol, jaywalking, littering and other public nuisances, as well as overcrowding.